The Perfect Vulva? Investigating Labiaplasty in South Africa

Abstract

Labiaplasty, also referred to as labial reduction, is the partial surgical removal of the labia minora in order to shorten the length that is external to the outer lips of the vulva. The conversation about labial length over the past ten years has become an important part of public debates around women’s sexual and gynaecological health. In these debates, a demand for what has become popularised as the ‘Barbie Vagina’ has become part of the conversation. Labiaplasty is a female genital cosmetic surgery designed to make this ‘Barbie vagina’ look possible, in order to achieve vulvas that are ‘neat’ and ‘tucked’. South Africa, with its complex political economy of a small number of very wealthy households and a much poorer majority, has been part of global aesthetic patterns for much of the last century and has experience a growing demand for labiaplasty procedures. To explore labiaplasty in South Africa I conduct an ethnography among plastic surgeons, aesthetic gynaecologists and clinical sexologists to understand how popular labiaplasty has become in South Africa. However, it was clear early on that knowledge about labiaplasty in South Africa was not easily accessible and by pushing my search for this knowledge I discovered firstly: the historical perpetuations of the body beautiful in plastic surgery in South Africa enveloped in ideas of race and beauty, and secondly complicated turf wars among specialisations of medicine fighting for legitimacy to perform labiaplasty.